Lecania cuprea and Micarea pycnidiophora (lichenized Ascomycota) new to Poland

Two lichenized fungi, Lecania cuprea and Micarea pycnidiophora, are reported for the first time from Poland. Lecania cuprea is also recorded as a new lichen species to the Western Beskidy Mts and the Pieniny Mts and M. pycnidiophora is new to the Carpathians. Illustrated descriptions, taxonomic notes, habitat requirements and known distributions for both species are provided.


Introduction
Recent lichenological exploration by the author in the Polish Western Carpathians has significantly extended our knowledge of lichen diversity in this mountainous area.Many species unrecorded to date in Poland in this region have already been reported (e.g.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]), but data on several others have yet to be published; details of two such species, Lecania cuprea and Micarea pycnidiophora, collected in 2004 and 2014 are presented here.M. pycnidiophora, previously known only in Central Europe from České Švýcarsko (= the Bohemian Switzerland) in western part of the Czech Republic, is also reported for the Carpathians.

Material and methods
Specimens were determined by standard microscopy and simple spot test reactions.Hand-made apothecial and thallus sections mounted in water were used to measure all anatomical characters.In the case of Lecania cuprea, KOH was used to study its apothecial pigmentation.
Specimens have been deposited in the Herbarium of Gorce National Park (GPN).Nomenclature and synonyms of the presented taxa follow MycoBank (http://www.mycobank.org).Localities are mapped (Fig. 1) according to the Polish Atpol grid square system [11] modified for lichens by Cieśliński and Fałtynowicz [12].Brief descriptions of diagnostic characters are based on Polish collections.

Notes
Lecania cuprea markedly differs in phenotypic characters from the type species for the genus, L. cyrtella (Ach.)Th.Fr.It has no thalline margin, and its ascospores are narrowly fusiform and 3(-5)-septate while L. cyrtella has a distinct amphithecium in young development stage of ascocarps and 1-septate, narrowly ellipsoid ascospores.These characters and a distinct proper margin, which is usually darker colored than the disc (see Fig. 2a), as well as entirely ±stout excipular hyphae make this species similar to representatives of the genera Bacidia De Not. or Bilimbia De Not.However, phylogenetic relationships of L. cuprea have not been confirmed to date.
According to Fletcher et al. [14], the lumina of excipular fungal cells widen towards the outer edge of the proper margin.However, in Polish collections apices of the hyphae are not distinctly wider but the whole excipulum is made of ±stout hyphae up to 2-3 µm wide.
Lecania cuprea is a calciphilous species usually growing on under-hangs or vertical rock surfaces in woodlands, sometimes over-growing epilithic mosses, but its most recent Lithuanian collection was on a siliceous boulder influenced by a basic stream water [24].
The Polish records are the first for the Western Beskidy Mts (including Czech and Slovak part of the flysch Carpathians) and the calcareous Pieniny Mts (including Slovak part).

Notes
In its morphology and anatomy, M. pycnidiophora most closely resembles M. stipitata Coppins & P. James and M. neostipitata Coppins & May, by forming stipitate, pale pycnidia and immarginate apothecia.Main differences between these three species are in their chemistry: M. pycnidiophora produces gyrophoric acid with C+ red reaction of pycnidia, thallus and apothecia, while M. stipitata has no lichen secondary compounds and M. neostipitata, to date found only in North America, produces fumarprotocetraric and lobaric acids and contains K+ violet Sedifolia-grey pigment in its apothecial and pycnidial sections [32].Differences in dimensions of their conidia are also emphasized, but they are not so distinct in M. pycnidiophora and M. neostipitata; 3.8-6 × 1-1.5 µm vs. 3.8-4.8× 1-1.5 µm [32].

Distribution and habitat requirements
Micarea pycnidiophora is a corticolous species very rarely reported from both sides of the northern Atlantic.It has been recorded in Britain, France and the Canary Islands [31], Belgium and Luxembourg [16,33], NW Spain [34] and south-eastern USA [32].Recently it has also been discovered in the Czech Republic [35] and the Leningrad region in Russia [36], as well as in the Himalayas [37].The records presented here are new to Poland and the Carpathians.Except for Russia, where M. pycnidiophora was collected for the first time on conifers (Picea), it is found on old deciduous trees (Fagus, Acer, Alnus, Quercus) or shrubs (e.g.Ilex, Rhododendron) [34,38].
The British population of M. pycnidiophora is said to be the richest in the World [39], but concentrated occurrences of this species on the European continent have also been found in the Ardennes Forest, in Belgium and Luxembourg [16].These occurrences and the North American range of M. pycnidiophora could suggest that this species belongs to a subatlantic element in the lichen biota.In the light of this, both known Central European populations of this lichen in the Czech Republic and Poland (and indeed the Himalayas) appear to be isolated.Palice et al. [35] suggest that this species may represent a relic of formerly much richer epiphytic lichen biota as it was found in association with other lichen peculiarities.In the Polish Carpathians, M. pycnidiophora was associated with several old-growth forest lichens such as Loxospora elatina, Ochrolechia androgyna, Thelotrema lepadinum and Usnea spp., growing within one of the best preserved spruce-fir-beech forest in the Western Carpathians.